Savage Return of Dracula Vol 1 1
| publisher = Marvel Comics | editor-in-chief = Tom DeFalco | writers = Gerry Conway | pencilers = Gene Colan | inkers = Gene Colan | cover artists = Gene Colan | colorists = Uncredited | letterers = Jon Costa | editors = Stan Lee; Terry Kavanagh | previous = | next = ''The Wedding of Dracula'' }} The Savage Return of Dracula is a one-shot Dracula special that reprints issues #1 and #2 of the original Tomb of Dracula comic book series by Marvel Comics. The story titles in this issue are "Night of the Vampire!" and "The Fear Within!". It was published with a December, 1991 cover date and had a retail cover price of $2.00. The cover to this issue is an original piece illustrated by longtime Tomb of Dracula artist Gene Colan. "Night of the Vampire!" Plot Frank Drake has just inherited an ancient family castle. The castle is historically notorious as the ancestral home of the legendary vampire, Count Dracula. Frank, his friend, Clifton Graves, and girlfriend Jeanie, travel to a small village in Transylvania. Unable to traverse the mountain pass, they hire a coachman to bring them the rest of the way to Castle Dracula. Many of the locals are superstitious of the vampire legends, but the Coachman, Otto, doesn't hold to any of that and agrees to transport them. They enter the castle, and Jeanie takes an immediate dislike to it. She becomes particularly apprehensive when a bat flutters by, frightening her. The three split up and decide to explore separate areas of the castle. Clifton Graves schemes to arrange an accident for Frank, so that he can gain control of the castle. As he's wandering, he stumbles through a weak floorboard, and falls into a secret hidden chamber. Inside the chamber is the coffin of Count Dracula. Graves opens the coffin and finds Dracula's skeletal remains. A wooden stake is sticking upward from his chest. Cliff doesn't believe in the legend, so he pulls the stake out and turns to leave. Dracula's physical form reconstitutes itself and he attacks Graves, hurling him into a deep cavern. He then takes the form of a bat, and flies upward towards another section of the castle. Upon finding Frank and Jeanie, he takes human form and accosts them. Frank manages to keep Dracula at bay by way of a silver compact. As the vampire is vulnerable to silver, he changes back into a bat, and flies out the window. Dracula flies down into the nearby village, and attacks a barmaid walking home from work. Another villager finds her blood-drained body, and declares that she has the "mark of the vampire" upon her. More villagers gather together and form a lynch mob. Dracula returns to his castle and assaults Frank once again. During their struggle, he discovers that Frank is actually one of his own direct descendents. Frank hurls the silver compact at him, striking Dracula in the head. Dracula lunges at him and grips him by the throat. Jean tries to defend her lover, but she falls prey to Dracula's hypnotic commands. Meanwhile, the lynch mob arrives at the Castle and set fire to it. The flames quickly rage throughout the building, and Frank is forced to find cover. Dracula takes the opportunity to attack Jeanie and drinks her blood. Frank manages to get her away from Dracula, but it is too late. She is now a vampire. Dracula flies away, and Frank pulls the vampire Jeanie out of the burning building. Appearances Featured Characters: * Frank Drake Supporting Characters: * Clifton Graves * Danny Summers Villains: * Dracula Other Characters: * Burgeister (A villager) * Drake (Frank's grandfather) * Fritz (A villager) * Jean (Frank's girlfriend) * Otto (A coachman) * Paul (One of Frank's friends) Locations: * England :* London * Romania :* Transylvania :*Castle Dracula :* The Baron's Inn Items: * Coffin * Wooden stake Vehicles: * Coach "The Fear Within!" Plot Frank Drake hires a mute manservant named Gort and returns to Castle Dracula to find the vampire lord's coffin. They search the dungeons beneath the castle and recover the coffin, but it is empty. As Gort brings the coffin topside, Frank hears a plaintive cry from below. Clifton Graves is scrabbling in the Pit of Death amongst a pile of human bones. He has been trapped down there for days and is nearly mad. Frank helps him up and Clifton tells him that Dracula must have been saving him to feed upon later. Meanwhile, Dracula dines instead on the blood of a young village girl before paying a visit to a man from his past - Doctor Carl Von Harbou. Von Harbou, now an old man, was but a boy when he was first pressed into Dracula's service. Now the vampire lord calls upon his services again. He has Von Harbou use his medical skills to alter Dracula's pallor, making him appear less like a white wraith and more easily passable as human. Dracula however, has not forgotten past transgressions and recalls that Von Harbou betrayed when last they met. Harbou pays for his sins with his very life. A fortnight later, Frank and Clifton return to London with Dracula's coffin. Frank has made all of the necessary arrangements to get it through customs without arousing suspicion. They say good night to one another and Frank enters his hotel room. To his surprise, he finds his girlfriend Jeanie waiting for him. Frank is heartbroken for he knows that Jeanie is now a vampire. Clifton stumbles into his room, highly inebriated. Frank tries to warn Clifton away and proves that Jeanie is a vampire by thrusting a crucifix towards her. Meanwhile, Dracula has arrived in London. Though his mission is to reclaim his coffin, he also feels the need to satiate his bloodlust. He finds a young woman who reminds him of a barmaid from his breathing days and follows her into a pub. Dracula uses his charm to lull her into a false sense of security, but this only succeeds in incurring the wrath of the girl's boyfriend. Dracula has little patience for fools and even less for surly brutes who would dare to put their hands upon him. With a flick of his wrist, he strikes out at the man with his cane, sending him reeling. The girl, Ellie, leaves the pub and Dracula goes after her. Feeling no reason to hold back, he leaps upon her and drinks her blood. Back at the hotel, Frank manages to tie Jeanie up to a chair. Realizing that Frank is too willful to fall for her charms, she uses her newfound powers to entrance Clifton Graves. Clifton frees her and Frank is forced to knock him back with a punch to the face. Dracula bursts through the window and lunges at Frank Drake. As the two fight, Jeanie prepares to drink Clifton's blood. Frank's body is thrown into a piece of furniture next to them, shattering it. He picks up a sharp broken piece of wood and stabs Jeanie through the back with it. Dracula arcs towards them, but realizes that the sun is ready to rise and that he will have to forego his business with Frank Drake until another time. He turns into a bat and flies off. Beams of sunlight pour through the window reducing Jeanie to a pile of ash. Frank collapses to the floor and begins sobbing. Appearances Featured Characters: * Frank Drake Supporting Characters: * Clifton Graves Villains: * Dracula * Jeanie Other Characters: * Bart * Carl Von Harbou * Ellie * Gort Creatures: * Vampires Locations: * Romania :* Transylvania :* Castle Dracula * England :* London :* Big Ben Items: * Crucifix * Wooden stake Vehicles: * Passenger jet Notes & Trivia * The reprint editor for this issue is Terry Kavanagh. * Letterer John Costanza is credited as Jon Costa in this issue. * This issue includes two pin-up pages of the covers to ''Tomb of Dracula'' #1 and #2. The first illustration is by Neal Adams and is recolored by Sarra Mossoff. The second illustration is by John Severin and is also recolored by Sarra Mossoff]]. * Dracula's actual first appearance was in the seventh story in Suspense #7 entitled "Dracula Lives". This issue was published in 1953 by Atlas Comics. Dracula's appearance in Suspense #7 is considered part of Marvel mainstream continuity as indicated in his profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Horror, 2005. * Dracula chronologically appeared last in a flashback sequence from Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms #3. The events from that issue take place after Dracula's apparent "death" at the hands of a Scotsman in Tomb of Dracula, Volume 1 #15. * This issue is also reprinted in Essential Tomb of Dracula, Volume 1 and Tomb of Dracula Omnibus, Volume 1. See also External Links * The Savage Return of Dracula #1 at MDP * The Savage Return of Dracula #1 at Comics.org * The Savage Return of Dracula #1 at Comic Vine * The Savage Return of Dracula #1 at Comicbookdb.com ---- Category:1991 comic book issues Category:December, 1991 comic book issues Category:Chronologized Category:Issues with plot summaries